Reviews by williamsgodfrey:

Appearance: 4.25/5It really pours beautifully. A deep copper red with a finger's width or so worth of light beige head that sticks around in force for a good bit. Eventually the bubbles recede to a fairly dense lace over the entirety of the glass for the remainder of the session.

Aroma: 2.75/5I'll admit that I am disappointed here. There wasn't much in terms of aroma throughout the entire session. I get a faint but perceptible whiff of tart raspberries and if I really, truly stretch I can get some earthy funk. But at this level of attempting to smell something one must wonder, is the odor actually there, or am I perceiving the odor because my brain is expecting it to be there? This is the main reason I don't read other reviews before publishing my own, I don't want to go into a tasting with expectations. The label says "funk" though, so I'm tainted. I'll call it as there, but just barely.

Taste: 3.25/5

A bit of a struggle on this one. Dull raspberry up front, maybe they're a little tart, followed by a bit of acidic cereal grain and finally the smallest hint of alcohol flavor. The beer is very dry, absolutely no residual sweetness or maltiness anywhere to be found.

Mouthfeel: 4.0/5

Along with the appearance this is one of the areas in which this beer excels. I immediately notice the carbonation and medium-light body of the beer. It's refreshing feeling (even if not necessarily refreshing tasting).

Overall: 3.0/5

It's hard to hide my disappointment. The beer was good but I won't be buying another bottle and I don't think I'll be recommending it to anyone. The beer seems lost, it tried to be too much and ended up losing most of it's identity in the process. (1,691 characters)

The bottle actually says 7.5% abv, and describes it as a saison finished with raspberries and Brett.

This beer pours a light bodied reddish copper in color, very clean and clear, with a one finger off white head. The nose is clean as well. There isn't any yeast character so you get a nice amount of fresh, slightly sweet and slightly tart raspberry. The flavors are light and finish pretty quickly. There is the slightest yeast component with some watered down raspberry. It's almost like watered down raspberry juice. The flavors leave your palate within the first two seconds. It drinks very light in body for its size. Hat said, you'd never know that this was 7.5%. It drinks like its between 4-5%.

Overall I expected more out of this beer, especially for about $15 retail. I would say that it would definitely benefit from more Brett and more raspberry influences. This beer sounds great on paper so there is plenty for AtG to work with on the next batches. (965 characters)

Aargh, such a confusing beer! When you read the label, the mind registers things like "sour", "tart", "funky", and "earthy" because of the suggestion of "wild" flavor. But its controlled Saison base flavor reels back the taste so that only raspberry fruit and dryness is experienced. But then there's spicy fruit... but it lacks sourness... but, ...but, ...but...

Pouring a light, even pinkish mauve color, hues of peach and gold fold into the mix as the hazy beer settles into the snifter. As its dainty white head floats above, it breaks only slightly thorughout the session while its acidity chops away slowly at its foamy structure. Without much meaningful retention, the beer does what sourish beers do- they give their head character up to its acidity.

Bright raspberry aromas are fresh, ripe, plump and avoids the candied fruit scents that sometime plague Framboise. As the true fruit aromas frame the beer's scent, its slight earthiness of musty citrus, sandalwood, dusty oak and buttermilk frame the "wild" character that decorates the Saison underneath. That farmhouse aroma is fruity with apple, pear and orange with spicy white pepper and slim clove to give dry impressions heading into taste.

Its taste is much more simplified than its nose- its kick off of malt sweetness is crisp, dry and wafer-like. But its the fruit sweetness that skirts the malts and gives the ale a semi-dry raspberry sweet and tart interplay. Its middle palate is certainly fruit-forward as the raspberry sweetness turns tart, pectin-rich, acidic and with a yogurt-like creamy tang. Straw and damp hay give earthy tones that steer just shy of saddle leather, horse blanket or parmesan, even though a light cheesy, sweaty and brine taste outlasts the fruit. Moderately hoppy, the beer's "Saison" flavor comes thorugh with a peppery-type bitterness to close the beer with confidence and restraint.

Medium bodied for a "bretted" Saison, its carbonation is only moderate where a champagne-like burst of effervesence is expected. This allows the beer to rest on the palate with slightly more weight than what's preferred. Still, its acidity and fading sweetness has no problem allowing the beer to close with semi-dryness and slight herbal warmth.

I rather like the beer in "Saison" consideration. However when the flavor of earthen brettanomyces yeast and authentic raspberry fruit join, the natural tendencies is to expect lambic-type sourness and that just doesn't happen. It's quite apparent that the beer needs significant age to mature this relatively "green" beer into a taste and texture that's worthy of full consideration. (2,620 characters)